HTC Unveils Its 13-Megapixel Selfie Phone, the Desire Eye

At today's Double Exposure event, HTC launched its newest phone, the Desire Eye—bear with us, there's a reason for that name. While the device doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel, it does offer a pleasant experience and the full power of HTC's latest software platform, Eye Experience.

Camera technology is a big selling point for HTC right now. As CEO Peter Chou stated during his introductory speech, "This is the beginning of the remaining of HTC." While the Desire Eye does incorporate some nifty features, it's no guarantee that it can be the saving grace the company needs. From its insistence on reinvention, it's clear HTC has seen the writing on the wall—that it's currently being oversold by its competition—and it's banking on its latest crop of devices to pull it out of trouble. But is the Desire Eye the hero HTC needs? Read on to find out.

Physically, it's not a bad looking device. The 5.2-inch full HD 1080p screen is nestled inside a fairly lightweight sturdy body. The unibody chassis is comprised of two contrasting pieces of plastic (which means the Desire Eye is unlikely to have its own Bendgate). If you're prone to dropping your phone in sinks—or heaven forbid, toilets—then you'll be pleased to know that it's IPx7 resistant, which means it can survive if submerged into a meter of water for up to thirty minutes.

The phone will come with Android paired with HTC's own custom Sense UI, and it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.3 Ghz quad-core CPU. The Desire Eye boasts only 16GB of onboard memory but the microSD card slot can support up to 128GB more. It's also NFC capable with a handful of sensors that can detect proximity and ambient light, and an accelerometer. The 2,400 mAh battery promises up to twenty hours of talk time on 3G and 538 hours of standby time, though you'll have to wait for our full review to see if it lives up to those claims.

The real stars here are the Desire Eye's cameras. Both the front and rear cameras are a whopping 13 megapixels and offer digital image stabilization technology and dual LED flashes. Both operated admirably for a mid-range phone in the event space's relatively dim lighting and the images looked splendid on the device's screen. There was a bit of a delay focusing while using the video camera, though the panoramic functionality worked well.

HTC is taking the selfie situation plaguing our society very seriously. With the most powerful front-facing camera on any smartphone in the history of smartphones, your self-portraits will look pretty good. Additionally, taking a selfie while engaging in cumbersome activities like mountain climbing if you're the sporty type (or eating a slice of pizza if you're like me) will be even easier with the option to forego the shutter button altogether. To snap a selfie when one of your hands is otherwise engaged, all you have to do is boot up the camera and hold the phone still for two seconds.

And to complement those cameras, HTC is offering a new software platform called Eye Experience, which works hand-in-hand with their revamp of Zoe to push the social side of media. Zoe's been around for a while, but it's yet to gain the kind of traction HTC hopes. Time will tell if the Desire Eye gives it the boost it needs, but it doesn't seem likely to catch on anytime soon, even with a planned expansion to Android 4.3 and iOS.

All in all, the Desire Eye is a solid smartphone for those in the market for a new Android device and its cameras are nothing to scoff at. The device will be available from AT&T later this year with a price point that's yet to be established but will hover in the mid-range category.

Melissa Grey wears Green Lantern pajamas to bed and writes stories for a living. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.